Do theologians know about The Urantia Book?

Q: I am a minister of Theology and political science, 72 years old, and I studied 7 years in Christian seminaries. I found The Urantia Book last week, and have read some 30 pages on many important subjects. I have been so excited for the revelations that no one on earth could write them. Where can I ask many questions such as why such an important book but very few intellectuals or theologians know about it? The book is too great for any mortal dare to claim its authorship. I agree. Where I contact best in Los Angeles area?

A: Thank you for your note to TruthBook.com. It's always a pleasure to hear from someone just discovering this incomparable book and we understand you excitement and awe – -that's typical for each of us when we first come into contact with this material... it can become a life-altering experience.

First, you're to be commended for taking an open-minded approach to look at something so foreign to your field of expertise. As we know, the world is full of fanciful scientific, philosophical and spiritual material posing as factual and authentic and it takes a discerning mind to separate the wheat from the chaff. Where religious and spiritual material is concerned most professional religionists tend to simply discount anything that is not traditional. So, with our encouragement, please continue to read with an open but discerning mind – -you will know whether or not this material continues to speak truth to you if you rely on your own truth receptivity.

You have already arrived at one critical discovery – -one which each student of these remarkable teachings must face and decide for themselves—-no one on earth could write this material. Fortunately it was provided in the early 1930s – -before computers could have been of use; its scope is too broad and deep for any one person to have composed; its consistency and integrity is too flawless to have been compiled by a committee; it encompasses material that beforehand had been unknown in human understanding.

One of our purposes here at Truthbook.com is to provide the service you've requested – -answering questions. There are several of us here who do just that and if the questions become too challenging for us to answer we can forward them to others who have more understanding, so feel free to pose your questions here.

As to your first question – -intellectuals and theologians. Many students of the Urantia material are intellectuals – -they're drawn to the book because of its logic and intellectual appeal. Some are drawn because of the astronomy, physics, geology, anthropology... others because of the philosophy and history and still others because of the spirituality and religious content. It overall appeals to inquisitive minds looking for logical explanations of the cosmos and our place in it. It is possible that many well-known intellectuals have taken a cursory look at the Urantia material and rejected it without delving into it in any great depth because it of its uniqueness and it is also possible that well-known intellectuals embrace the teachings of the book but don't make their discovery known because it could bring criticism down on them. For theologians – -there are a good many theologians, ministers, rabbis, priests, monks, who know of The Urantia Book but, because of their position and because of the years spent in training they are reluctant to come right out and proclaim their source for new insight. One prominent theologian was Dr. Meredith Sprunger, a long-time United Church of Christ minister, who became involved with the Urantia teachings shortly after the book was first published in 1955. Dr Sprunger is retired now and not particularly active at this time but we have a number of his written materials on our site. Please go to our home page and enter Sprunger in the search window at the bottom left where it says "Search Truthbook" to discover Dr. Sprunger's and others' writings on all manner of topics relating to the Urantia teachings.

Also, you'll notice there that we have a section marked FAQ and one marked Life Challenges – -you'll be able to learn a lot about The Urantia Book from these sections. The section named Reviews is also quite inspirational. Please feel free to spend as much time as necessary reviewing the material we've prepared on our site – -it's intended to help anyone newly discovering the book to become familiar with it. However, all of this material is about The Urantia Book. The Urantia Book itself is the revelation and must be read in order to be believed. All the material in the world about the book does not substitute for actually reading the words of the book. As you may have discovered, the complete book is available on our site ) where you can read on-line and listen to it being read aloud as you read along.

There are study groups in the Los Angeles area, from Santa Barbara down to San Diego so it's possible there's one near you. I might suggest though that you become familiar with the Urantia material from your own perspective before discussing it with others who aren't familiar with it or before connecting with a study group. There seems to be a connection that builds between the reader and the text when one invests ones own time and thinking – -it's a personal connection best done on one's own I think. I often suggest to new readers that they not be overly concerned with understanding everything they read at first, that it may be most important that they read the whole book as rapidly as they're able, not spending a lot of time pondering over the strange new thoughts they're presented with, but to forge ahead so that they can grasp the overall picture of the scope and content of this magnificent revelation. Then they will be prepared to go back and savor it with the overall comprehension of what it is disclosing.

Thank you again for writing. Best wishes to you and please feel free to write any time.